Fancy Ferrets?  Hmmm?  Well my new ferret, Hugo was considered a mutt
ferret, and I got him for 30 dollars cheaper than the rest of the litter!
Everyone was asking the breeder for sables evidentally, and Hugo is, well, I
think he is a cinnamon, he is a light color, with a lot of red in his coat.
His has virtually no mask, and its the cutest thing....he has white knee
pads!  As plain as day, he has white spots on his back knees, and in the
bends of his "elbows" up front.  It's a riot.  I can't beleive everyone who
looked at him picked a sable brother or sister over him.  A mutt indeed.
I bet if he was sold at a pet store, he would have been considered some
ultra rare and unusual ferret, and sold for twice as much because he was
different.  Oh well.
 
On to other things.  Last night I was given quite a scare by Shandy.  She
began projectile vomiting every where.  Looked like she was throwing up poop
or somthing.  Then she just layed with her butt in the litter box, and her
top part out hanging on the floor.  She wouldn't move or anything.  You have
never seen such a panick!  We had just switched vets, and I had no idea of
the emergency number so I was rushing around looking up numbers, looking for
the cordless phone.  It was a mess.  I would highly recomend everyone
finding out emergency numbers ahead of time, and finding out what type of
payments they take.  Come to find out the animal hospital here only takes
cash or credit cards.  These are not things to find out when your ferret is
laying on the floor puking her guts out.
 
Anyways, after she threw up for a while, she was back to her old self.
Running, playing and being a general busy body.  I thought maybe she had
ingested somthing.  So I looked around and found a little stuffed frog (her
favorite) was missing its front legs.  She had evidentally eaten part of
the frog legs since there was also cotton strewn about.  I noticed her
trying to go poddy, but nothing was coming out.  So after staying up all
night with her, we decided to make a trip to the vet at petsmart today.
They gave her laxatone.  1/2 tsp every four hours.  So far we have had
cottony poops.  I am still watching her closely though.  She is still
playfull and rambunctious.  The only time she acted really sick was when
she was vomiting.  I know how bad it feels to vomit, so I can understand
why she was just laying there.
 
Needless to say we have cleaned house.  All kids toys are now to be kept in
their bedrooms only.  And all ferret toys have been examined and sorted.
All of Shandys stuffed toys have been taken from her.  Too bad too, since
they were her favorites.  I am not used to having a ferret who tears up
things.  Gypsy has never even looked like he wanted to chew anything up.
But Shandy seems to be a like a baby, putting everything that isn't supposed
to be good for her, in her mouth.
 
I had thought maybe Shandy had gone into heat, since her vulva was swollen a
little.  But now it is back down again.  Its almost invisible.  We just had
a major cold snap...record lows for this winter (In March of all times, when
our normal should be 60 somthing) Is it possible she was trying to come into
heat and the cold snap turned off her biological clock, so to speak?  Its so
cold out, the house is chilly.  I guess that is all
 
another day in the life of
Chelle
Gypsy, Shandy and Hugo
[Posted in FML issue 2244]